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Last Active 07-06-10 6:31 pm
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| Top 100 Of '09, Pt. 2
So sorry it took so long to post, I only had like 5 of the deions done beforehand and I was busy, getting wasted and having!!! Umm.. and being at a lameass cabin with my step family.. but mainly getting WASTED AND HAVING SEX!!! No acually not at all.. and I'm still a virgin :/ god damn. But umm yeah this is part 2, 75 - 51. Enjoy and umm comment and stuff, happy new years and welcome to mankind's third last year :). | | 1 |  | Noah and the Whale
The First Days of Spring
75. With Noah and the Whale's acclaimed sophmore release The First Days of Spring do not lack the main component that makes an amazing record; inspiration. Lead vocalist Charlie Fink arrives on the first track with a heart-on-his-sleeve approach, baring his heart, holding nothing back. As the major concept is Fink's broken heart, he has the ability to make or break the band's 2009 release. And with the band on his shoulders he walks the line between heartbreakingly beautiful and irritatingly self loathing. Though his vocals can get bothersome at times, and the subject matter can get corny, this is still a grandiose and gorgeous indie folk record. | | 2 |  | Our Lady Peace
Burn Burn
74. I have alot of nostalgia when it comes to Our Lady Peace, their concert being the first I ever went to and Gravity being one of the first records I ever really enjoyed all the way through. What's different with OLP from the other bands of my childhood like Smash Mouth and Simple Plan is that I've acually grown to enjoy their music more throughout the years. Infact, their best record Spiritual Machines has taken a pretty permanent spot in my car's cd case. With more knowledge of music though I have realized that Healthy In Paranoid Times and my childhood favorite Gravity were kind of duds, not terrible or even bad mind you, but pretty stale. So when I heard the single All You Did Was Save My Life from their new record, Burn Burn, and enjoyed it quite abit I was quite interested on how this would be. And I'm glad to say that this is definatly their best record since Spiritual Machines. Raine Maida may not show himself to be a creative or lyrical genious but he is at his most inspired, and though they aren't back to their top artistic peak they have never sounded so confident. Plus the guitar work is pretty insane. | | 3 |  | Imogen Heap
Ellipse
73. With Ellipse, Imogen Heap has the daunting task of making a follow up to the extremely successful and pretty great album, Speak For Yourself. And though I doubt any songs from this will be sampled in an annoyingly popular radio-pop song, she proves herself as a more than capable artist. Delivering plenty of tasteful hooks without sacrificing personality and emotion, the electronica pop darling's '09 release is dense, but accessible. No question, her best record to date. | | 4 |  | Maybeshewill
Sing The Word Hope In Four-Part Harmony
70. Maybeshewill shows themselves with Sing The Word Hope In Four-Part Harmony to be like Godspeed You Black Emperor's kid brother. Except while GY!BE are blasting Beethoven on vinyl, Maybeshewill are blasting some All Time Low from the "ghetto player machine" or whatever you kids are calling it these days. Youthful post rock for the pop punk. That'll due Maybeshewill. That'll due. | | 5 |  | Irepress
Sol Eye Sea I
71. Best record of the year? Not even close. Best metal record of the year?? Notta. Best post metal record of the year??? Still not quite. So Irepress's 2009 release may not be the "masterpiece" that many are claiming but with masterful musicianship and a clear talent for mixing "epic" with "fun" they have produced a hell of a good time. | | 6 |  | Hanging Garden
TEOTWAWKI
70. Hanging Garden have now done for post metal what they did for doom on their debut - they've made it accessible, memorable, and easily digestible. They've accomplished this in a similar fashion to how they pulled off their debut. They took the elements of the genre (this time post metal) and injected a bit more melody and speed than is normal. The vocals have changed from a growl to a scream that could remind of anyone from Isis to Neurosis (but not Hatebreed) and fit the music just fine. Just don't approach this expecting another doom album. - Trey Spencer | | 7 |  | The Glorious Unseen
The Hope That Lies In You
69. With Tonight The Stars Speak, The Glorious Unseen proved that even music that would fit into the Praise And Worship genre can be incredibly powerful. Even being a "post Christian" if you will, I found myself to be very moved, like for once, it's not about the message but the emotion and feeling. Ben Crist's new release The Hope That Lies In You is much along the same lines, playing post rock influenced worship, but except it doesn't carry that raw emotion that his debut had. It is still great, even out of the borders of the gospel genre, just listen to his rendition of How He Loves Us. Powerful stuff, for Christians and non Christians alike. | | 8 | | BATS
Red In Tooth & Claw
68. Red In Tooth & Claw is basically the soundtrack of a really, really pissed off scientist. For the few in the sputnik community who havent heard this, well.. do it. | | 9 |  | August Burns Red
Constellations
67. Constellations may not be as big as a breakthrough as Underoath's Define The Great Line was for the genre of Metalcore, though it strengthens the genres reason for exsistence and gives it hope. Constellations brings out technical brilliance from each member of the band, leaving no-one out as Messengers so annoyingly did. - Doug Belfast | | 10 |  | Blue October
Approaching Normal
66. Super overdramatic, but ever so delicious. I know I'll get alot of negs for this but when in the right mood Blue October's "rock opera" is pretty powerful, but when not, its kinda laughable. A guilty pleasure of mine. | | 11 |  | The Mountain Goats
The Life of the World to Come
65. I think I'm beginning to see why everyone goes crazy over them, God bless the Colbert Bump! | | 12 |  | Pilate
Wooden Bones
64. Though not nearly as "life changing" Sell Control For Life's Speed was, Pilot Speed's third release is still pretty fantastic. Though it is pretty disappointing in contains plenty of hooks and that same brilliant lyrisism that made me fall inlove with them in the first place. | | 13 |  | Kreng
L'Autopsie Phenomenale De Dieu
63. Creepy, scary, direful, disturbing, eerie, frightening, ghoulish, gruesome, hair-raising, itching, macabre, menacing, nightmarish, ominous, shuddersome, sinister, terrifying, threatening, weird. All words that can be used to describe this piece of art. In L'Autopsie Phenomenale De Dieu minimalist composer Kreng incorporates some of the creepiest samples and sounds you'll hear and creates a record like non other this year. Think of that really pretentious art film you watched that massively dug into your head and then you realized that it pwned. Hard. | | 14 |  | Darkest Hour
The Eternal Return
62. See, for me when metal bands grow into a more melodic sound I usually enjoy it more than when their me "aggressive" I guess. Maybe it's just because I'm not much of a metal fan myself, but this statement is usual proven true, but like almost every "rule" when it comes to music, there are expections. An exception for me would be with Darkest Hour's newest The Eternal Return. Its not that I didn't enjoy Deliver Us, infact it was one of the first metal records I ever purchased, but it always felt like alittle bland. So when I first heard that their new record was streaming on their myspace, for nostagic purposes as well as curiousity I immediatley jumped at the chance. And on the first listen I was very impressed with the approach that the metalcore act had taken. Though it lacked the "singles" that their previous record had, The Eternal Return had much more flow and seemed more organic. And after a few more listens its fair to say that this is one of my favorite metal records of the year. THERE IS NO GODD!! | | 15 |  | Cymbals Eat Guitars
Why There Are Mountains
61. After hearing many rave about this on the site, I finally decided to give Cymbals Eat Guitars' Why There Are Mountains and within the first couple songs it was safe to say I was disappointed. Each song seemed like a mess, containing a Modest Mouse like weirdness with the dark, post rock edge of The Twilight Sad but just in the lamest way possible. Then came the powerful What Dogs See. Joseph D'Agostino raw passion and lyrical talent finally makes it way on the album without being bottled done by "noise." After being amazed by What Dogs See and the incredible closer Like Blood Does I decided to give this a couple more listens, and though I got a little more of a feel to it I still felt like the first half of the record of was just pretty much a mess, the second half shows great potential proving Why There Are Mountians to be a pretty excellent debut. | | 16 |  | The Morning After Girls
Alone
60. When it comes to 2009, excellent psychedelic-rock/shoegaze are far and few between. I mean everyone's been whoring after A Place To Bury Strangers' release Exploding Head but for me, though in no way bad record, it had little value to me. Its not that albums from this genre are hard to come by, infact it the contrary which is one of the main reasons why. However with emotion and flare The Morning After Girls' debut Alone has managed to have lasting value. Here's to hoping they don't fade along with so many other groups. | | 17 |  | Metric
Fantasies
59. With plenty of inspiration and hooks, the Canadian power house Metric come out with maybe their best and poppiest record yet. Acsessible while intelligent Fantasies is a must get for anyone looking for a good time. Awee yeah! | | 18 |  | Wilco
Wilco (The Album)
58. Not their best by any means but definatly Wilco's most confident. There's nothing I can really say that hasnt been said over and over again. Because Wilco loves you babe ;). | | 19 |  | Weekend Nachos
Unforgivable
57. Almost every year there is that one record that wants to kick your ass so hard. The one record that will remind you of the way that Billy would pants you, give you swirlies, steal your lunch money, and shit in your locker. That record this year was Weekend Nachos hardcore gem Unforgivable. This piece of pure unadulterated anger will surely make you love the way that it hates you. | | 20 |  | Narrows
New Distances
56. One of the best hard rock records of the year. The supergroup Narrows are one of the few acually worth listening to. New Distances is a must listen for all those who are interested. | | 21 |  | Elder
Reflect
55. Every year there seems to be that one new emo band that the sputnikmusic community takes a shine to. In 2009 that band seems to be Elder with their debut record Reflect and the question is, is the buzz this emotional hardcore act getting meritted? With a subtle shoegaze influence infused in a short and messy, these kids prove that they are worth the acclaim they've been getting. Though not topping Touche Amore or Piano Become The Teeth's '09 releases, ths is still one of the year's best emo records. A must get for any fan. | | 22 |  | Buried Inside
Spoils Of Failure
54. Though Buried Inside's 2009 release Spoils Of Failure can be quite long and hard to digest in one sitting and at times and may even seem repetitious, undeniably it is one of the best sludge metal releases of the year. Maybe even the best. Atmospheric and subtle, while being aggresive and epic, this beast of a record is basically the poster child of what the genre is. And the really good looking poster child at that. | | 23 |  | Glass America
Redivivus
53. It's been said over and over, 90% of post rock sucks, this however doesn't. Not to say that is revolutionary, but it is much more on the lines of Sigur Ros, focusing on the ambience instead of bulid and climax. The Christian aspect of this also cannot be denied as the last line of the record goes "and they sing hallelujah" but it is not flaunted, more just a celebratory theme for the record. Take a more generic, less amazing Sigur Ros and mix it with the ambient worship style of The Glorious Unseen and you've got Redivivus, the fantastic debut from post rock hopeful's Glass America. | | 24 |  | Attack in Black
(Years) By One Thousand Fingertips
52. Changing from the more agressive Bruce Springsteen influenced sound of the critically acclaimed debut Marriage to a more laidback Bob Dylan sound with (Years) By One Thousand Fingertips and I must say Attack In Black have produced one of the most confusing albums of the year. For the music is very raw and the melodies are very simple, it almost seems they've just gotten lazy but with brilliant lyrisism and almost a haunting cheeriness it seems that with their sophmore release they have created a subtle poetic masterpiece that reminds me of In An Aeroplane Over Sea. So I really doubt know how to look at this, so I suggest you give this a listen or 10 and tell me what you think. | | 25 |  | Atlas Sound
Logos
51. Not really enjoying any of Deerhunter's material I came into this not sure what to expect but its safe to say Atlas Sound's 2009 release Logos. One of the best of it's kind, whatever kind it is. | |
EVedder27
12.31.09 | Props for Burn Burn, is a pretty good record. | YouAreMySilence
12.31.09 | Indeed it is man. | Relinquished
12.31.09 | 71? and under Constellations? Aww man you're breaking my balls. | YouAreMySilence
12.31.09 | Sorry brah. Yah its a great record, just I can't much amazing about it. | Relinquished
12.31.09 | Keep listening... | shindip
12.31.09 | these sure are some epic lists | Dryden
12.31.09 | 19 rules hard | Chewie
12.31.09 | holy shit, this is such a big set of lists, well done man! |
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